Question

What is compliance?

Mindlessness?

norm of reciprocity(door in the face)?

commitment and consistency (foot in the door, bait, and switch, low-ball)?

Scarcity?

Social Proof?

Answer 1

Compliance refers to the social process of responding under influence of other individuals or group’s request for changing behaviour in the desired direction.  It occurs in instances of going along with the group or changing a behavior to fit in with the group, while still disagreeing with the group. People are more likely to comply when they believe that they share something in common with the person making the request.

In consumer Psychology, processes like compliance indicate how sellers and advertisers can influence consumers and persuade them to purchase goods and services. They attain this by influencing the processes of commitment and consistency. People have a general desire to appear consistent in their behavior. People also generally value consistency in others. Poeple can exploit the desire to be consistent by several techniques which involve having someone make an initial, often small, commitment and thus gain compliance.Some of these techniques include:

• The "Foot-in-the-Door" Technique
  • In this approach, marketers start by asking for and obtaining a small commitment and then present a larger request. The rationale is that Once we have already complied with the first request, we are more likely to also comply with a second, larger request. For example, if a co-worker asks us to fill in for him for a day. After we say yes, he may then ask if we could just continue to fill in for the rest of the week.
  • The "Lowball" Technique

This strategy involves getting a person to make a commitment and then raising the terms or stakes of that commitmen to the actual condition. For example, a college professor may get the students to agree to commit to one extra class on the weekend once before adding on a number of hidden class sessions and activities that then make the time spent in classroom much more longer and extensive.

• Reciprocity Reciprocity refers to a technique of gaining compliance wherein People are more likely to comply if they feel that the other person has already done a favour for them. If people extend a gesture of kindness to us, then we comply to their request because of our belief that we should return the favor.
• Door in the Face technique

A similar technique is the door in the face in which a person may start by asking for a large commitment which he knows would be refused. When the other person actuallyrefuses, the person then makes a smaller and more reasonable request which was the desired response by the requester to begin with. For example, a friend may ask us to spend the night at his home. After we decline the request, the friend may ask if we could at least join him for dinner so that he doesnt have to eat alone. After refusing the first offer, we might feel compelled to comply with his second appeal. It is based on the norm of reciprocity wherein we comply because we are lead into to thinking that the person is making a compromise for us and lowering his/her request.